The Ethics of Managing Your Personal Time
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There's a lot said about ethics in nursing, and much of it -- most of it, probably -- pertains toward the ethical treatment of patients. Not charting meds you haven't given or procedures you... Read More

"If you're not sick on Christmas Day, please don't call in sick and force the rest of us to work short."

Nothing frosts me more than this perverted perspective. Nurses....you are not responsible for safely and professionally staffing your unit. But management has always loved the fact that you feel that way.

If your unit enters crisis mode whenever a person call in, you need to find a new hospital.

Until we all realize that it's staffing policies based solely on cost reduction that result in overworked nurses and patients at risk, this nurse guilt foolishness will continue ad nauseum.

"if you're not sick on christmas day, please don't call in sick and force the rest of us to work short."

nothing frosts me more than this perverted perspective. nurses....you are not responsible for safely and professionally staffing your unit. but management has always loved the fact that you feel that way.

if your unit enters crisis mode whenever a person call in, you need to find a new hospital.

until we all realize that it's staffing policies based solely on cost reduction that result in overworked nurses and patients at risk, this nurse guilt foolishness will continue ad nauseum.

i must be missing your point. to me, the above quote makes perfect sense. if you're scheduled to work christmas day, work. unless you're really ill. if you don't work, your colleagues -- who might also prefer to spend the holiday off the clock -- are going to be working short. think what would happen if everyone who didn't feel like working christmas day called in sick. there's no way management could staff the unit if everyone did that! personal responsibility -- have some.

Very well said, i work at a nhcc and we had a few "forget they were scheduled" on july 4m, and having less na's put the whole shift in stress, your trying to do your job plus theirs. when others call in you are taking from the patients care and what they deserve, as well as creating more work for your coworkers, our job is paitent care first and foremost, and if these coworkers have so many "funerals" to attend, maybe they should find a different profession. loved your article.

I totally agree. How many times have we been left to try and keep it together somehow when people call off for a frivilous reason. I had a C.N.A. call in on a Friday because she just found out she had cancer but she would be back on Monday. After empathazing with her situation and telling her if she needed additional time off, we would support her in her time of need, she said no, she would be back on Monday. On Monday she did return but was overheard while on break telling her friends she really went to visit relatives in another city. This post says what needs to be said about those who abuse time off with no regard to the people who are left to try pick up the slack when people call in for no good reason.

Very good article. Reminds me of the time when all the employees of a nursing home attended a Christmas party and left one nurse and one CNA to take care of the 172 residents. That one was obviously a blatant disregard for the poor people who made the employment there possible.

i'm thinking how did the nurse and cna get all those treatments done and they deserved a huge rasie!! i work on a nursing home as well from 6:45-4, i have 26 to care for and barely get my tx and charting done! *ode*

While I do not endorse lying, I can honestly say that there have been times that I thought "really? Couldn't come up with SOMETHING better than that?" when staff at my facility call off.
I have gotten the old "I have a headache" call off six hours before a nurse's shift is due to start.
"I didn't sleep well last night" is also irritating.
"I ran over my neighbor's bike.". ???
And my personal favorite thus far: "I can't make it in to work today because my mom was supposed to leave my socks in the mailbox, and she didn't.". Just WOW....

While I do not endorse lying, I can honestly say that there have been times that I thought "really? Couldn't come up with SOMETHING better than that?" when staff at my facility call off.
I have gotten the old "I have a headache" call off six hours before a nurse's shift is due to start.
"I didn't sleep well last night" is also irritating.
"I ran over my neighbor's bike.". ???
And my personal favorite thus far: "I can't make it in to work today because my mom was supposed to leave my socks in the mailbox, and she didn't.". Just WOW....

socks in the mailbox! That is a new one, and at least scores originality points.